Coronavirus: What You Need to Know

Fauci says Americans must be prepared to hunker down

(Bloomberg) -- Americans must be ready for more drastic steps to slow the march of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

“Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Asked if he would prefer some kind of 14-day national shutdown to “flatten the curve” of Covid-19 spread, Fauci said -- in one of five interviews on Sunday talk shows -- “I would prefer as much as we possibly could.”

On “Fox News Sunday,” though, the veteran infectious diseases specialist didn’t endorse a nationwide shutdown. With ‘stringent mitigation and containment’ measures without a complete lockdown will help the U.S. avoid getting to where Italy is now, he said.

How Does Coronavirus Spread?

The coronavirus is a respiratory disease that appears to spread like the flu virus – person-to-person and through the air. Virus-containing droplets from coughs or sneezes land in the mouth or nose of another person. You also can pick up the virus by touching an infected surface with your hand, and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

People with the virus may be able to spread it before symptoms appear but, in general, people are thought to be most contagious when they are the most symptomatic.

People have little or no immunity to the virus because it is new. This allows the virus to spread quickly from person to person around the world. It may be months before an effective vaccine is developed.

How Does Coronavirus Affect People Differently?

People who have a higher chance of getting very sick from COVID-19 are:

Older adults

People with a serious chronic health problem such as: cancer, diabetes, heart disease or lung disease

People with sickle cell disease

If you are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 because of your age or because you have a serious long-term health problem, it is extra important for you to take actions to reduce your risk of exposure to the disease.

Children seem to be experiencing the illness in a different way than adults. UH Rainbow pediatric infectious disease specialistAmy Edwards, MD, in conjunction with the UH Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health, explains.